The Vegatbit.com site has posted a tutorial today showing you how to build a link sharing site with Laravel, a simple application that lets you create "shortlinks" to make it easier to pass along URLs to others.

Building your own applications, even on a simple or small scale, is a great way to build your skills. This Link Sharing Website tutorial using Laravel will help us to to just that. If you’d like to save yourself a little time, you could just as easily head on over to http://www.easylaravelbook.com/ and pick up a great pre written application, PHPLeaks. PHPLeaks is a Link Sharing Website that has everything you need to get a nice starter project going.

They walk you through every step of the process, showing you all the code and commands you'll need to get the application, database and frontend set up and running. This even includes the installation of the Homestead virtual machine and configuration of your local machine. Don't be intimidated by the long list of steps - it's pretty quick thanks to several of the Laravel artisan commands.